Delving into Delias Hbner (Lepidoptera: Pieridae): finescale

Transcription

Delving into Delias Hbner (Lepidoptera: Pieridae): finescale
Journal of Biogeography (J. Biogeogr.) (2012)
ORIGINAL
ARTICLE
Delving into Delias Hübner (Lepidoptera:
Pieridae): fine-scale biogeography,
phylogenetics and systematics of the
world’s largest butterfly genus
Chris J. Müller1*, Pável F. Matos-Maravı́2,3 and Luciano B. Beheregaray4
1
Molecular Ecology Laboratory, Biological
Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW
2109, Australia, 2Laboratory of Genetics,
Department of Biology, University of Turku,
FI-20014, Turku, Finland, 3Biology Center of
the Czech Academy of Sciences and School of
Biological Sciences, University of South
Bohemia, 370 05, Ceske Budejovice, Czech
Republic, 4Molecular Ecology Laboratory,
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders
University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
ABSTRACT
Aim Our objective was to reconstruct a species-level phylogeny of the genus
Delias, to elucidate their finer-scale biogeography and to test boundaries
between closely related taxa.
Location Indo-Australian region, with a focus on Wallacea.
Methods Sequence data from 131 taxa, representing all recognized species
groups and more than half of the known species of Delias, were used in the
analysis. Phylogenetic analyses based on molecular characters of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and nuclear genes wingless and
elongation factor 1a (EF-1a) were carried out using maximum parsimony and
Bayesian inference. Biogeographical reconstructions were undertaken using the
parsimony-based method dispersal–vicariance analysis and the dispersal–extinction–cladogenesis model as implemented in rasp and Lagrange, respectively.
Results The phylogenetic hypothesis resolved 14 distinct clades, here
designated the nysa, isse, pasithoe, belladonna, ladas, geraldina, aroae, eichhorni,
sagessa, aganippe, hyparete, belisama, albertisi and nigrina species groups. Delias
blanca Felder and Delias chrysomelaena Snellen van Vollenhoven were transferred to the pasithoe and isse species groups, respectively. We demonstrate that
the barcode region of COI is useful for the delineation of closely related, more
recently diverged, Delias species. Species diversification in Delias, for the most
part, is shown to pre-date the Pleistocene, even in montane mainland New
Guinea where numerous phenotypically similar sister species co-occur.
*Correspondence: Chris J. Müller, Molecular
Ecology Laboratory, Biological Sciences,
Macquarie University, PO Box 3228, Dural,
NSW 2158, Australia.
E-mail: chrismuller999@gmail.com
Main conclusions Sibling Delias species found in sympatry are largely
restricted to those clades confined to mainland New Guinea, where most species occur in high-elevation habitats. Conversely, clades with large geographical
ranges are composed of essentially allopatric taxa. Although an Australian Plate
origin is plausible for the genus, Delias is likely to have colonized islands
peripheral to Australia during the early stages of its evolution (i.e. during the
Miocene), as evidenced by the presence of older lineages in Wallacea and also
in islands of the south-western Pacific.
Keywords
Butterflies, DEC model, historical biogeography, Indo-Australian region, Miocene, molecular phylogeny, Müllerian mimicry, plate tectonics, Pliocene.
INTRODUCTION
Delias butterflies, commonly known as Jezebels, are popular
with naturalists, artists, researchers and collectors world-wide
and have been the focus of numerous taxonomic and, more
ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
recently, molecular studies (see Braby & Pierce, 2007 and references therein). Delias Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) are
widely distributed in the Indo-Australian region, with the
highest species diversity in the highlands of mainland New
Guinea (NG) (Parsons, 1998; Morinaka et al., 2002; Braby &
http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jbi
doi:10.1111/jbi.12040
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C. J. Müller et al.
Pierce, 2007). The first detailed taxonomic assessment of
Delias was undertaken by Talbot (1928–1937), who classified
153 species into 20 groups. Yagishita et al. (1993) identified
216 species and assigned them to 22 groups. Currently, there
are 255 recognized species, rendering Delias the largest genus
of butterflies, surpassing the species diversity of Acraea Fabricius and Euphaedra Hübner (Nymphalidae), Polyommatus
Latreille and Arhopala Boisduval (Lycaenidae) and Papilio
Linnaeus (Papilionidae).
Morinaka et al. (2002) showed that Delias is monophyletic
and Braby & Pierce (2007) conducted a species group-level
phylogeny, which identified eight major clades. Braby et al.
(2006) confirmed that Delias belonged to the Aporiina, a
cosmopolitan group of genera, and showed that the genus is
closely related to Leuciacria Rothschild & Jordan. The origins
of Delias and their broad-scale cladogenesis have been surmised by Braby & Pierce (2007). In contrast, our study
focused on estimating finer-scale relationships to clarify the
processes that have influenced the extraordinary rate of
diversification in the genus and to resolve questions about
species-level systematics. Comprehensive species-level phylogenies have a greater capacity to resolve systematic relationships as well as biogeographical history in Indo-Pacific
butterflies (Müller et al., 2010; Müller & Beheregaray, 2010)
and to clarify current taxonomic issues in Delias (e.g. Braby
& Pierce, 2007).
In recent years, several studies have investigated the
origins of various groups of Indo-Pacific butterflies. An
‘out-of-Africa’ origin is evident for two nymphalid genera,
Charaxes (Aduse-Poku et al., 2009) and Junonia Hübner
(Kodandaramaiah & Wahlberg, 2007), while a Gondwanan
origin has been inferred for Delias (Braby & Pierce, 2007)
and troidine butterflies (Braby et al., 2005), and a Palaearctic origin for Papilionidae (Condamine et al., 2013).
Here we attempt to disentangle the biogeographical history
of the genus as a part of a larger comparative biogeographical study of butterflies in the Indo-Pacific region
(Müller & Beheregaray, 2010; Müller et al., 2010). The
genus Delias is ideal for biogeographical studies within this
region because it is generally widespread, yet local endemism is particularly high; for example in single mountain
ranges or small islands. Indeed, there are very few wideranging species (Talbot, 1928–1937).
The Indo-Pacific region is geologically highly complex
with a very dynamic history (Hinschberger et al., 2005; Hall,
2009). During the late Oligocene, approximately 25 million
years ago (Ma), fundamental changes took place as a result
of the collision between the Australian continent and the
Philippine Sea Plate arc in NG. The Philippine Sea Plate
began to rotate clockwise and this ultimately resulted in the
accretion of fragments (micro-continents) from the northern
Australian margin onto the Southeast Asian margin, notably
in Sulawesi (Hall, 2009). In the middle Miocene, c. 15 Ma,
subduction at the Banda Trench was initiated and subsequently led to back-arc spreading and the inception of the
Banda Basins (Banda Sea) (Réhault et al., 1994; Honthaas
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et al., 1998; Hinschberger et al., 2005). That process further
resulted in the fragmentation of this agglomeration of
micro-continents, generating the group of islands known as
Wallacea. Wallacea is of utmost importance in a biogeographical context as it is situated between the Oriental and
Australian regions. While Delias comprises several species
groups endemic to mainland NG, a number of wide-ranging
groups span both zoogeographic regions. Such groups are
potentially highly informative to our understanding of the
biogeographical history of the genus in the region. Indeed,
Braby & Pierce (2007) called for finer-scale phylogenies of
the groups that are widespread across Wallacea. Here we
reconstruct a species-level phylogeny of Delias and elucidate
its biogeographical history based on the most complete
molecular dataset generated so far for this genus. Our
emphasis is on fine-scale biogeography and, in particular,
assessments of patterns of dispersal within and across Wallacea.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Taxon sampling
Our combined dataset consisted of 138 taxa, including
seven pierid outgroups. We sampled Delias from all 21 species groups of Talbot (1928–1937), some entirely (e.g. Talbot’s stresemanni and chrysomelaena groups) or almost
entirely (e.g. the belisama and hyparete groups). In particular, we focused on sampling comprehensively within widely
distributed clades. Of the 44 species recorded from Wallacea, we sampled 30 (68%). We also sampled multiples of
closely related species within the nigrina and albertisi clades
to assess genetic and phenotypic relationships. Several species sequenced here are known only from the types, or very
few specimens (e.g. Delias brandti Müller, 2001, Delias pulla
Talbot, 1937 and Delias laknekei Miller, Simon & Wills,
2007). The cladograms were rooted using Eurema hecabe
(Linnaeus, 1758) and Pareronia tritaea (C. & R. Felder,
1859), as well as five outgroup taxa of the tribe Aporiina
(see Appendix S1 in Supporting Information).
Molecular markers
The combined dataset consisted of DNA sequences from
three genes, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), wingless
and elongation factor 1a (EF-1a). The great majority of
sequences were from COI (132 taxa), whereas we used fewer
samples of wingless (68 taxa), owing to the greater difficulty
of amplifying nuclear DNA from dry-preserved material. We
also incorporated the EF-1a sequence dataset of Braby &
Pierce (2007), which comprised 33 taxa. This combination of
genes was particularly successful at resolving lineages within
the family Pieridae (e.g. Braby et al., 2007). Mitochondrial
COI is known to provide a better signal for resolving lowerlevel relationships, whereas nuclear wingless and EF-1a
resolve deeper lineages (e.g. Caterino et al., 2000).
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Phylogeny and biogeography of Delias
Molecular techniques
Two legs and/or small amounts of body tissue were
removed for subsequent extraction of DNA. Voucher specimens are deposited at the following centres: C. J. Müller
reference collection, Sydney; Australian National Insect
Collection (ANIC), Canberra, Australia; School of Biological Sciences Collection, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. A Chelex (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) method
(Walsh et al., 1991), modified according to Müller & Beheregaray (2010), was used to extract genomic DNA
(gDNA). Standard polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) were
conducted in a PTC-100 MJ Research thermocycler (Colonel Light Gardens, Adelaide, SA, Australia), with a volume
of 25 lL: 2 lL of gDNA template at various dilutions,
with 11.625 lL of distilled H2O, 2.5 lL of PCR buffer
(100 mm), 2.5 lL magnesium chloride, 5 lL of each dNTP
(2.5 mm), 0.5 lL of each primer and 0.375 lL of Taq
polymerase (5 units lL 1). Some specimens were processed at the Laboratory of Genetics, University of Turku,
Finland, following the protocols described on the Nymphalidae Systematics Group webpage (http://nymphalidae.
utu.fi/).
For COI, a 654-bp fragment was amplified using the
LCO and HCO primers of Folmer et al. (1994). For older
and/or degraded tissue samples, we used internal primers
Ron (5´-GGAGCYCCWGATATAGCTTTCCC-3´) and Nancy
(5´-CCTGGTAAAATTAAAATATAAACTTC-3´) from Caterino & Sperling (1999). To amplify the 433-bp wingless gene
fragment, the primers LepWG1 and LepWG2 (Brower &
DeSalle, 1998) were employed. The PCR cycling protocols
for the three genes are described in Müller & Beheregaray
(2010). Negative controls were included in all PCRs. The
PCR products were separated by electrophoresis and purified with an UltraClean 15 DNA Purification Kit (MO
BIO Laboratories Inc., Carlsbad, CA, USA). All DNA
sequencing was performed on an ABI 3130 automated
sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Carlsbad, CA, USA). Chromatograms were edited manually and then aligned in
sequencher 4.1 (Gene Codes Corporation, Ann Arbor,
MI, USA). All sequences were aligned against other published lepidopteran sequences (e.g. Brower & DeSalle, 1998;
Campbell et al., 2000). For COI, the consensus sequences
were aligned against the reference sequence for Drosophila
yakuba Burla (Clary & Wolstenholme, 1985) and/or other
lepidopteran sequences in GenBank. GenBank accession
numbers for all sequences are given in Appendix S1.
Phylogenetic analysis
Individual sequence properties were evaluated using mega
4.1 (Tamura et al., 2007). Datasets for phylogenetic analyses
[maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian inference (BI)]
were generated using the software VoSeq 1.2.4 (Peña &
Malm, 2012). The MP analyses were undertaken using tnt
1.1 (Goloboff et al., 2003). Heuristic searches using the New
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Technology Search algorithms (Goloboff, 1999; Nixon,
1999), with default settings, were executed with 100 random
additions. Clade support values were assessed by bootstrap
(Felsenstein, 1988) with 1000 pseudo-replicates and 10 independent replicates with tree bisection–reconnection branch
swapping. Partitioned Bremer support (PBS) values (Baker
& DeSalle, 1997) were calculated using the strict consensus
tree recovered by the MP analysis and a script written by
Carlos Peña (in Peña et al., 2006; available at http://bit.ly/
xfZMa3) to evaluate the contribution of and congruence
between gene datasets.
Bayesian analyses with the dataset partitioned by gene
fragment (COI, EF-1a, wingless) were conducted using
MrBayes 3.1 (Ronquist & Huelsenbeck, 2003), after confirming the suitable model of evolution for our dataset in
modeltest 3.06 (Posada & Crandall, 1998). All partitions
were assigned with the GTR+G model. Two independent
runs using four Markov chains, one cold and three heated,
were run simultaneously for 10 million generations. Tree
sampling was set for every 100 generations. The tree topology and posterior probabilities were summarized after confirming that the average standard deviation of split frequency
estimations was below 0.05 and discarding the first 1,000,000
generations as ‘burn-in’.
Age of divergence estimations
We used calibration points and a relaxed molecular clock
approach, as implemented in beast 1.5.2 (Drummond &
Rambaut, 2007), to estimate times of divergence in Delias.
The calibration points are taken from the estimated ages of
the split between Delias and Leuciacria (Braby et al., 2006)
and the age of the crown group of Delias (Braby & Pierce,
2007), which were extrapolated from fossil data included in
their phylogeny of the family Pieridae. Accordingly, all
resulting age estimates in this study are minimum estimates.
No other calibration points are recognized as potentially reliable, because there are no known singular events that can be
tied to specific lineage splits. However, the calibration points
used here are supported by other estimations based on distinct methods and fossil data of the time of split between
Delias and Leuciacria (Wheat et al., 2007), which is concordant with that suggested by Braby & Pierce (2007). Also, various vicariance events are likely to have been overprinted to
some degree.
The analysis was run within a Bayesian statistical framework. We applied the relaxed molecular clock method (uncorrelated lognormal distribution and GTR+G evolution
model) independently to each gene partition and set the tree
prior to the birth–death process. The calibration points were
inserted as the means of normal distributions, where the split
between Delias and Leuciacria was set to 31 ± 4 SD Ma and
the crown age of Delias to 26 ± 3 SD Ma (Braby & Pierce,
2007). All other priors were left as the default values. We ran
the analysis twice for 10,000,000 generations and sampled
the log parameters every 1000 generations, with the initial
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C. J. Müller et al.
1,000,000 generations discarded as burn-in. The program
Tracer 1.5 (Rambaut & Drummond, 2007) was used to test
whether parameter estimates and tree topology had converged and reached equilibrium by verifying that the effective
sample size values were higher than 100. The log and tree
files from both runs were then combined using LogCombiner 1.5.2 and the trees were summarized using the program TreeAnnotator 1.5.2 (both included in the beast
package) into one maximum clade credibility tree where
divergence times are reported as mean heights on each node.
Biogeographical analysis
The study area was subdivided into three geographical areas
based on geological information and the butterfly distributions: (A) Australian region, including NG and satellite
islands; (B) Wallacea; and (C) the Oriental region, including
Southeast Asia (Fig. 1). The subdivision of these three major
areas was intended to decipher the biogeographical patterns
of radiation across Wallacea in an attempt to infer major
routes of dispersal or vicariance events between Southeast
Asia and Australia.
To investigate the biogeographical history of Delias, we
used the parsimony-based method dispersal–vicariance analysis (DIVA) (Ronquist, 1997) as implemented in rasp 1.1 (Yu
et al., 2011) whereas to determine statistical support and
account for phylogenetic uncertainty, the Bayes-DIVA
approach was executed. We used the post burn-in phylogenetic trees from the analyses in beast and left the settings as
defaults. The Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method
was carried out using 10 chains (temperature 0.1) for
10,0000 cycles, sampling every 100th cycle and discarding the
first 1000 samples, while the model used was F81 + G. The
maximum number of ancestral areas was left unconstrained
(i.e. three maxareas) and the root distribution set as null. In
addition, for comparative purposes, we used the dispersal–
extinction–cladogenesis (DEC) model as implemented in
Lagrange C++ (Ree & Smith, 2008), as a second distinct
Figure 1 Map of the Indo-Australian region showing the geographical range of Delias (black line) and assigned biogeographical zones
used in the dispersal–vicariance analysis, separated by white lines and defined as follows: Australian region (A), Wallacea (B), Southeast
Asia (C).
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Phylogeny and biogeography of Delias
method to compare the inferences of ancestral ranges of
Delias. The input ultrametric tree was the maximum clade
credibility inferred using beast and the settings were left as
defaults.
RESULTS
Dataset properties
Our dataset consisted of sequences from 173 exemplars, representing 131 Delias species and seven outgroup taxa. The complete combined data contained 2234 bp, of which 864 (38.7%)
were variable and 613 (27.4%) were parsimony informative. At
the individual gene level, wingless had the highest proportion
of parsimony informative sites, with 40.8%, while COI had
37.2% and EF-1a 17.5%. Base frequencies were near equal in
wingless and EF-1a, but were A–T biased in COI (A = 29.2,
T = 38.5, G = 14.3, C = 18.0). Appendix S2 shows the strict
consensus tree of the 51 equally most parsimonious trees
found for the combined dataset (length 3249, consistency
index = 37, retention index = 62).
Partitioned Bremer support for the combined dataset
under MP showed that there was variable conflict between
the different gene partitions. COI contributed most to the
phylogenetic signal, with only 16 nodes (13.1%) conflicting.
Some conflict arose from nuclear genes wingless and EF-1a
but this is probably attributable to the lack of data for many
of the taxa, as well as the slower rate of evolution of these
genes compared with the mitochondrial COI. Nonetheless,
there exists congruence between the single gene and combined datasets, as well as between methods of phylogenetic
reconstruction, as the species groups are recovered in every
analysis.
Phylogenetic patterns
Fourteen distinct clades were recovered (Fig. 2), here designated as the nysa, isse, pasithoe, belladonna, ladas, geraldina,
aroae, eichhorni, sagessa, aganippe, hyparete, belisama, albertisi
and nigrina species groups. The clades were recognized by
their timing of separation from sister clades, each with a split
of at least 15 Ma. The monophyly of the genus Delias was
confirmed and the genus Leuciacria was recovered as sister
to Delias. The nysa clade was recovered as sister to all
remaining Delias. Clade composition was nearly identical for
BI and MP (Appendix S2), with the majority of clades being
well supported. The relationship of Delias aganippe with
other Delias taxa was not resolved under MP, nor was the
position of Delias blanca in the phylogeny using either
method. The species composition of each clade was also the
same for both BI and MP, but the phylogenetic relationships
among most of them were not well resolved in the MP analysis. The nysa and isse clades diverged earlier in the evolution
of the genus, as clearly shown by the Bayesian analyses. The
(hyparete (belisama (albertisi + nigrina))) grouping is also
evident in both BI and MP.
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Age of divergence
The Bayesian tree inferred in beast is highly congruent with
the BI and MP trees, recovering the major groupings of species
as well as the timings of the origins and diversification of the
main clades found in previous studies of Delias (Braby &
Pierce, 2007; Wheat et al., 2007). Following the split between
Leuciacria and Delias at approximately 31 Ma (37–25 Ma), the
majority of species-groups originated in the early to mid Miocene (c. 24–15 Ma). There is no apparent difference in the
overall timing of speciation between the ‘insular clades’ and
the mainland NG clades. Throughout the late Miocene to Pliocene (c. 10–3 Ma), there was a remarkable increase in speciation events, contrasting with the fewer sister pairings dating
from the Pleistocene. During the past 2.5 Ma, five splits are
implied for the Oriental Region (C) and four for the Australian
Region (A), whereas only the recent divergence between Delias
periboea and Delias timorensis is reported for Wallacea (B).
Biogeographical analysis
Both the Bayes-DIVA and Lagrange analyses suggest that
very early in the evolution of the group, Delias was present as
several clades in Wallacea (Fig. 3a,b). Despite the differences
in rationale between the two methods, general biogeographical
patterns are recovered. Due to the occurrence of the sister
group Leuciacria in Australia, and given the extant distribution
of Delias species, both analyses suggest an Australian origin of
Delias, as suggested by Braby & Pierce (2007). However, Wallacea was very important for the diversification of the group, as
the butterflies have apparently crossed this region towards
both Southeast Asia and Australia several times (Fig. 3). For
instance, the analyses suggest that there were early dispersal
events from Wallacea towards the Oriental region in the nysa,
isse, hyparete and belisama clades during the late Miocene and
Pliocene. In the case of the belisama clade, dispersal events
back into Wallacea from the Oriental region were inferred
about 5 Ma, and dispersal back into the Australian region at
around 7.5 Ma was inferred for the nysa clade.
The main difference between the Lagrange and BayesDIVA outputs is the widespread ancestral distributions
(involving more than one geographical area) closer to the
crown node of Delias in the former, thus implying ancient dispersal events earlier in the evolution of the genus than in
Bayes-DIVA. Furthermore, there is evidence of conflict
between the methods because certain nodes show different
inferred ancestral ranges or different relative probabilities for
the same reconstructed ancestral ranges.
DISCUSSION
Historical biogeography and diversification
As Delias is highly species rich and many species have
restricted ranges, their fine-scale biogeographical patterns
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C. J. Müller et al.
Figure 2 Calibrated tree showing phylogenetic relationships of Delias and estimates of divergence times for the combined cytochrome c
oxidase subunit I (COI), elongation factor 1a (EF-1a) and wingless datasets. Clades are coloured according to their species group
taxonomy. Numbers on the right of each node represent posterior probabilities and the horizontal bars are the 95% credibility interval
estimated in beast. The scale of the ultrametric tree is million years ago (Ma). Plioc is Pliocene and Ps is Pleistocene.
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Phylogeny and biogeography of Delias
Figure 3 Ancestral areas of distribution reconstructions for Delias as inferred by (a) Bayes-DIVA and (b) Lagrange, where A is the
Australian region, B is Wallacea and C is Southeast Asia. Pie charts on each node represent marginal probabilities (Bayes-DIVA) and
relative probabilities (Lagrange) of ancestral ranges (states). Ancestral area probabilities lower than 0.1 were combined in the category
‘junk’. The scale of the ultrametric tree is million years ago (Ma). Plioc is Pliocene and Ps is Pleistocene.
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Figure 3 Continued
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Phylogeny and biogeography of Delias
provide insights into the processes that led to their diversification. Broadly, two major biogeographical groups are evident within Delias: those that can be regarded as belonging to
‘insular’ clades and those that are ‘NG mainland’ clades. The
first are relatively widespread clades, composed essentially of
allopatric species that inhabit mostly low to moderate elevations below 2000 m. Such wide-ranging clades (nysa, isse, hyparete and belisama) have speciated largely on islands outside
of the NG mainland. Where they occur on mainland NG,
they are represented by only one or two species. Of the less
widespread ‘insular’ clades, the ladas species group has
diverged into highly distinctive taxa in the NG archipelagos
but Delias ladas, distributed throughout mid-montane NG
mainland, is remarkably consistent in phenotype across its
wide range. Conversely, the second group of clades comprise
numerous sympatric species that are confined to high elevations in mainland NG but which have not crossed even very
narrow seas to satellite islands (e.g. aroae, eichhorni, sagessa
and albertisi clades).
Braby & Pierce (2007) proposed an Australian Plate origin
for Delias, based on a sister relationship with Leuciacria and
other evidence, in contrast to several previous studies that
hypothesized an Oriental origin for Delias (Dixey, 1894; Talbot, 1928–1937; Klots, 1933; Roepke, 1955; Holloway, 1986;
Mani, 1986). However, the close relationship of Leuciacria
was not then appreciated and Klots (1933) placed the genus as
sister to Elodina. Both Dixey (1894) and Talbot (1928–1937)
considered that the Oriental pasithoe and belladonna were
the most ‘primitive’ groups in Delias but actually the nysa
clade split off first in the evolutionary history of the genus.
Our biogeographical analyses suggest that the genus spread
rapidly, with early lineages crossing and, to some extent,
diversifying in Wallacea. Talbot (1928–1937) noted that, with
the exception of species belonging to the mainland NG
clades, all other groups are represented by species occurring
in Wallacea, which Talbot referred to as the ‘Central Area’
(also comprising Gebe and Aru). He proposed that many
species originated in this area and spread in all possible
directions. Our phylogenies are not indifferent to this theory,
in that the older Delias lineage represented by the nysa clade
is composed largely of Wallacean endemics. Indeed, Müller
et al. (2010) and Müller & Beheregaray (2010), respectively,
recorded an ancient Wallacean element in the evolutionary
histories of the nymphalid genera Charaxes and Cethosia in
the Indo-Pacific, and attributed such early diversifications to
the fragmentation of Wallacea during the mid to late Miocene, a theory equally plausible for Delias. Lohman et al.
(2011) surmised that taxa in Sulawesi, the largest island in
Wallacea, are frequently basal groups with an essentially
Asian origin, as revealed by molecular data.
Older lineages in islands peripheral to NG are not only
restricted to Wallacea but are also apparent in islands of the
south-western Pacific. The presence of Delias ellipsis Joannis
in New Caledonia, which is an old member of the belisama
group, as well as the early diverged Charaxes (Polyura)
gamma Lathy (Nymphalidae) (see Smiles, 1982) attest to this
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theory. In this study, all 11 known Bismarckian Delias species
were sampled, enabling an assessment of their phylogenetic
relationships in detail. A possible link existed between Australia and the Bismarck Archipelago, through island arc (and
ophiolite) stepping-stones in the south-western Pacific (such
as Vanuatu and New Caledonia). The closer relationship
between Delias brandti (New Ireland), Delias nysa (Australia,
New Caledonia and Vanuatu) and Delias pulla (mainland
NG), whose origins are dated back at around 5 Ma, is one
example. Past connections between the Bismarck Archipelago
and mainland NG facilitated the dispersal of Delias as exemplified by the splitting of Delias messalina (Bismarcks) and
Delias ligata (mainland NG), Delias madetes (Bismarcks) and
Delias aruna (mainland NG), and (Delias laknekei + Delias
lytaea) (Bismarcks) and Delias ennia (mainland NG), dated at
approximately 5 and 6.5 Ma, respectively. Similarly, connections between the Bismarcks and the Solomons are evidenced
by the inferred splitting of (Delias salvini + Delias bagoe) from
the Bismarcks and Delias schoenbergi from the Solomons at
approximately 7.5 Ma. The modal inferred age of divergence
for Bismarckian taxa is approximately 5 Ma. Talbot (1928–
1937) noted a potential link between Bismarckian and Schouten Island taxa through the relationship of Delias totila and
Delias talboti Joicey & Noakes, respectively, which is corroborated in this study (inferred split dated at around 9 Ma). This
is also supported by the inferred split of Delias narses (Bismarcks) and Delias biaka (Schouten Island) at about 7.5 Ma.
Such a link was also hypothesized for the danaines Euploea
tripunctata (Biak) and Euploea lacon (Bismarcks) by Ackery &
Vane-Wright (1984).
Within the Bismarck Archipelago, further splitting is evident.
Three sister pairs of Delias species ((Delias lytaea–Delias
laknekei, Delias salvini–Delias bagoe, Delias mayrhoferi (=
schunichii–Delias eximia)) occur allopatrically respectively on
New Britain (NB) and New Ireland (NI). The inferred ages of
divergence of these pairs are c. 2.0, 2.0 and 2.5 Ma, respectively.
There is also diversification at the subspecies level on New
Ireland in the case of Delias messalina Arora. Two distinctive
subspecies, Delias messalina lizzae and Delias messalina gerrittsi,
endemic to the highest parts of the Hans Meyer and Schleinitz
ranges, respectively, are separated by a narrow strip of land,
which was probably submerged until relatively recently (Müller
et al., 2008).
Diversification of Delias on the NG mainland has been
documented as being ‘explosive’, based on the high number
of similar, co-occurring species. This has been largely attributed to vast climatic changes during the Pliocene–Pleistocene
(e.g. Parsons, 1998; Braby & Pierce, 2007), whereby species
became isolated on mountain ranges during interglacials.
Here, we found that it was during the Pliocene that the main
diversification events for species in mainland NG occurred,
similar to what is observed for Delias outside of NG. Only a
few examples of Pleistocene speciation are evident. Even
those taxa that are phenotypically similar (e.g. members of
the albertisi and nigrina clades) apparently diverged in the
Pliocene. While the glaciation events of the Pleistocene and
9
C. J. Müller et al.
the resultant sea-level fluctuations are well documented,
those pre-dating this period are far from well understood,
although there are several examples of significant Pliocene
sea-level fluctuations (Hutchison, 1992; Monk et al., 1997;
Roy et al., 2000; Roy & Whitehouse, 2003). On mainland
NG, orogenesis intensified during the Pliocene, particularly
in southern NG. Indeed, geological and palaeontological evidence suggests that many fossils, now located above 1000 m,
represent lowland species such as crocodiles (Natus, 2005).
Much of southern NG was submerged until at least the mid
Pliocene, c. 3 Ma (Natus, 2005). The generation of mountain
fold belts, in conjunction with sea-level fluctuations, would
have altered the distribution of Delias and may have facilitated diversification of the genus.
Mainland clades within Delias were clearly restricted by sea
barriers. For example, of the mainland clades (aroae, eichhorni,
sagessa and albertisi), none has been able to cross to nearby
islands, e.g. the Schouten Islands, Waigeo and the d’Entrecasteaux, the sole exceptions being Delias messalina and Delias ligata.
Elevation cannot be considered the limiting factor, for there
are many peaks of suitable elevation. Nearly all mainland NG
Delias clades are widespread throughout the island, including
the Arfak Mountains, and a phylogeny incorporating most mainland species would shed light on the origins of each of these taxa.
Evolution of morphological traits
Wing pattern diversification in Delias is as intriguing as their
biogeographical patterns. Red pigmentation is particularly
conspicuous in the genus but its evolution has been conjectural and considered homoplasious (e.g. Braby & Pierce,
2007). In most clades such a trait is either present or absent
in all included species, and this has implications for the
development of red pigment in the context of a phylogeny.
The few exceptions, which contain both red and non-red
taxa, are the pasithoe, aroae and albertisi groups. Red pigment is not present in the earliest Delias lineages (nysa and
isse clades) and is more evident in younger clades. Earlier
phylogenetic hypotheses (Dixey, 1894; Talbot, 1928–1937)
presumed a sister relationship of Delias with Cepora (Huphina), some of which have the red pigment. However, because
the sister of Delias is Leuciacria (Braby et al., 2006, 2007;
Braby & Pierce, 2007), which has no red pigment, it is plausible that the ancestor of Delias did not possess red pigment.
Indeed, Aporia Hübner, another genus with no red pigment,
is part of an unresolved trichotomy with the Catasticta group
and (Delias + Leuciacria) (Braby et al., 2007).
Convergent evolution of wing pattern and coloration
(Müllerian mimicry) is widespread in Delias and has been
noted by previous authors (e.g. Dixey, 1918, 1920; Talbot,
1928–1937). Such mimicry is apparent at the fine scale
within Delias clades and extends to different family groups,
such as the nymphalid genera Mynes Boisduval and Elymnias
Hübner, and even diurnal moths. For example, various
zygaenid and agaristine moths are mimics of members of the
nysa and pasithoe groups, respectively, in Asia. Within Delias,
10
the isse clade is largely composed of species that are mimics
of congeners from other groups, mainly within the nysa and
hyparete clades. As these clades represent older lineages
within Delias there is a suggestion that it takes considerable
time for such mimicry rings to evolve. Interestingly, while
several of the hyparete models possess red pigment, the isse
mimics have only been able to attain an orange colour (e.g.
Delias sacha and Delias alberti) suggesting an inability to replicate the coloration in its entirety.
Delias systematics
The comprehensive taxon sampling in this study resolved the
14 distinct clades. The number of clades and their fine-scale
composition recognized here differs from that of Talbot
(1928–1937), Yagishita et al. (1993) and Braby & Pierce
(2007). Nonetheless, the broad-scale phylogeny of the latter
authors does not differ markedly from our own. Clade relationships and composition within the new phylogenetic
hypothesis was markedly constant irrespective of the analysis
(i.e. MP or BI). A detailed assessment of the systematics and
taxonomy of the genus is presented in Appendix S3.
CONCLUSIONS
The fine-scale species-level phylogeny of Delias presented here
showed that early lineages mostly radiated during the Miocene
and quickly spread throughout much of the Indo-Pacific
region, which involved several crossings of Wallacea during
the late Miocene to Pliocene. The early splitting clades contain
a number of Wallacean endemics, and this may, in part, be
attributed to the complex fragmentation history of the region.
Younger clades are composed of species that are essentially
restricted to mainland NG because their ability to disperse
into surrounding satellite islands has been very low. The theory of recent ‘explosive’ evolution of Delias (e.g. Roepke,
1955; Parsons, 1998) is rejected here and the Pliocene is
shown to be of much greater temporal importance in the evolution of the genus. Timing of diversification for both the
widespread and the mainland NG endemic clades is similar.
Numbers of cryptic Delias taxa, exhibiting only slight phenotypic differences, display significant genetic distance for COI,
substantiating the prolonged separation of taxa. Although dispersal was apparent in the diversification of early clades, sea
barriers, even narrow straits, appear to have been impediments to colonization within the mainland clades. Future biogeographical studies of Delias should focus on the origin of
the various recent mainland clades within NG itself, although
this would entail an analysis of a complete dataset with
respect to the evolution of the numerous geological terranes
that comprise the island, as well as Pliocene climate data.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to Andreas Müller, Andrew Rawlins,
David Cassat, David Hall, Fred Gerritts, Laurie Wills and
Journal of Biogeography
ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Phylogeny and biogeography of Delias
Russell Mayo for contributing to the sample dataset and W.
John Tennent, who generously provided various references.
Michael Braby is thanked for his review of the manuscript
and Chris Davenport, Danny Burke, Niklas Wahlberg and
Carlos Peña for helpful discussions. Blanca Huertas, Behnaz
van Bekkum-Ansari and Djunijanti Peggie of the Natural
History Museum, Museum Naturalis (Leiden) and Museum
Bogoriense (Bogor), respectively, kindly allowed examination
of specimens in their care. This work was supported by
Macquarie University, Sydney, and P.M.-M. acknowledges
grants awarded by the Oskar Öflunds and the Turku University Foundations and additional funding from the Academy of
Finland and the Kone Foundation awarded to N. Wahlberg.
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SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Additional Supporting Information may be found in the
online version of this article:
Appendix S1 Exemplar taxa used in this study, with collection data and GenBank accession numbers.
Appendix S2 Maximum parsimony and Bayesian trees for
the combined cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), elongation factor 1a (EF-1a) and wingless dataset.
Appendix S3 Delias systematics.
Journal of Biogeography
ª 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
BIOSKETCH
Chris J. Müller is an economic geologist with a lifelong
interest in the taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of IndoPacific butterflies.
Pável Matos-Maravı́ is interested in molecular systematics,
historical biogeography and diversification of insects.
This study formed part of Chris Müller’s PhD research
supervised by Luciano B. Beheregaray, a molecular
ecologist with interests in conservation and evolution of
biodiversity.
Editor: Malte Ebach
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